as veterans waited months for care? benghazi boycott, as republicans form a special committee to investigate the attack that killed four americans. this morning democrats are deciding whether to play defense or simply boycott the panel entirely. one of the lawmakers make that decision joins us live. not for sale. donald sterling apparently speaking out for the first time since getting a lifetime ban from the nba but it is his wife who may hold all the cards which is shaping up to be an epic fight. your "new day" starts right now. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo, kate balduan, and michaela pereira. >> it is friday, may 9th. if you care about veterans pay at tension. we have new evidence of deadly delays and deception at a va. clerks in san antonio are accused of cooking the books to hide dangerously long treatment

delays, delays blamed for 40 patient deaths at va facilities. the department's embattled secretary eric shen sier shen s. >> what is the latest? >> good morning, chris. so far president obama standing by eric shinseki, himself a veteran of vietnam, saying he has confidence in him. but make no mistake shinseki is embattled. now hes has ordered in his own department for the first time, a face to face audit of all the clinics looking into this question, were there secret wait lists where veterans made to wait for appointments that nobody recorded the delays s a veterans may have died over all of this. the house has subpoenaed shinseki to come before the veterans affairs committee.

they want to see e-mails, they want to see all communications about this issue. much of it first reported by our own drew griffin. the senate, they have not subpoenaed him but he will appear before the senate next week to testify. if you wondered about the scope of this, there are 23 million veterans in this country. the u.s. government has always made an unfettered vow to serve and protect them and provide for their health care. kate? >> how are they going to continue that going forward? that is the key question, especially in the face of these allegations. barbara, thank you very much. so this morning house democrats, they are meeting on whether to join a new committee on benghazi. lawmakers approved thursday the new investigation into the attack that left four americans dead. many democrats are calling the committee itself and the investigation a political witch hunt. but does that mean they should boycott it all together? that's the question. and what does this have to do now with the former secretary of

state hillary clinton? joining us to discuss, cnn political commentator margaret hoover and cnn political analyst and senior political writer at politico, maggie haberman joining us in d.c. margaret, tell me first. we've got republicans saying that despite all the investigations and all the hearings and everything that's been going on on the hill regarding benghazi they still have key questions. democrats say this is all political show. which is it? >> look, whatever it is it's become a partisan joke. >> flash point. >> it's a flash point. it's a partisan joke. it's a rallying point. after 13 hearings so far it doesn't appear it's anything more than a political -- look. it seems very much like a political witch hunt. there are a lot of things at which you can get the obama administration and hillary's tenure at the state department that you can point to as questionable, especially most

recently this failure to designate boko haram as a terrorist investigation in light of her going after 300 nigerian girls back. look, it's a flash point. i don't see a lot of it there. >> also, let's not be holier than thou. political theater is just kind of chew for the course. it is what happens on capitol hill. press conferences are held just in order to say we held a press conference and committee hearings are held just to say we sat here and we held a committee hearing. what are you saying about the democrats considering boycotting? one of the reasons behind this consideration is the fact they don't think there's enough equity on the panel. they think they need more seats on the panel. what do you make of it? >> it's not surprising that democrats are considering boycotting this, as margaret said, this is being looked at as a strict partisan maneuver. it was created along a very strict partisan line vote. if they boycott this committee

they don't have a say at all. if things go very badly, then that could be a problem. if they do just one seat or two seats, then that's problematic. >> is boycotting a good idea though, if you're not in the ring you can't win the fight. if you're not there at all you can't defend your own position, right? >> that's what they're looking at and that's what their consideration is. there are members of leadership who want to be in the ring fighting, not just the obvious talking about the hillary clinton piece of it. that's just a piece of it. reality the other party in congress and they feel like they ought to be there holding their own. they genuinely believe this is a as far as and they believe this is not, as margaret said, the latest in a series of hearings that is not going to drudge up anything new. that's their view. >> the republicans are taking a t lot of heat right now of the nrcc, congressional campaign arm. fund-raising off of this committee, off of the whole situation in benghazi, what happened there. the guy in charge of the

committee now says they should not be fund-raising off of it but regardless, it has happened, it is happening. is that a huge misstep, fly in the face of their argument this isn't political? >> it's a political cycle. the democrats are always going to fund raise off of something that happens, too. this is what happens in political realms. unfortunately this is what happens. it generates media and a lot of small dollar donations that goes to the bases, especially where you have strong red states ard fervent republican base. >> does it work though, maggie? >> margaret's right. there's two conflicting impulses here. on one hand, the negative press here that when john boehner got asked about this the other day this is not what he wanted to talk about. but this does up the fund-raising base. they are ultimately looking at winning this november. >> one quick question. clearly one of the things here, maggie, they're trying to make this connection to hillary clinton. she is finally spoken out about

the committee. she spoke about it this week. what do you think about her response so far, do you think she's going to have to say more and do you think she's going to be called to the committee and she'll go? >> there's a chance. ultimately she's going to have to say more because this is ongoing. what's going to happen in terms of her book? she addresses benghazi in her book. the book is coming out in a couple of weeks. the events will overlap. she was pretty briefed the other day. she addressed it at theford foundation. clearly wanted to discuss this robin roberts was interviewing her, brought it up right away. her response was a couple of sentences. she's clearly going to have to say more, especially if something does come out of this committee. if she doesn't, she will say as little as she can for as long as she can. >> she's going to be in very safe, very comfortable places where she can say exactly what she wants to and no more and nobody is going to push her to say more until she gets closer and closer to making a

exploratory committee or running. the rubber is not going to hit the road for hillary clinton until she decides to make that step. >> you have two conflicting things going on here. you have the hearing happen and then the reality are what are the american people going to be getting out of it. i don't think those two things actually coincide yet. i haven't seen a compelling reason. if this is really a political cycle and political theater, what are they going to get out of it? republicans think they will find answers, we will see. first, we have to see if democrats will show up to the committee. chris? let's turn now to the search for hundreds of missing girls in nigeria where american help has arrived. good news. experts are set to land today to support a team of advisers on the ground for a search that may now have to stretch to they borg cameron. here hearing from girls who are believed to have escaped the massive kidnapping. here with us is vladimir

duthiers, what do we know? >> the fact their daughters may not be in nigeria any longer. we're learning more about what life is like in che ba-- >> reporter: boko haram's campaign of terror, shocking the world into action. global outrage over the kidnapping of 200 schoolgirls and the kncountry's president vowing the abduction will be the group's undoing. >> i believe that the kidnap of this girls will be the beginning of end of terror in nigeria. >> reporter: pledges of help in the fight against boko haram from the united states and other governments are gaining traction. >> we should be clear, this is not just a nigerian issue, it is a global issue. there are extreme islamists around our world who are against education, against progress, against equality, and we must

fight them and take them on wherever they are. >> reporter: a team of seven united states military personnel consisting of law enforcement experts and military advisers expected to arrive today joining a team already on the ground. france is sending a small specialized team to help, as is britain. the task of rescueing the girls growing more complex with news u.s. intelligence believe they may have been split up, moved out of ney gigeria and into neighboring countries. >> before they are dispursed across africa. >> reporter: many fear the worse, still missing three weeks after being abducted by the terrorist group. its leader threatening to sell them into sex slavery. these two girls know all too well the brutality of boko haram, recalling how they escaped the fate of their classmates. they described the frightening moments when boko haram stormed their school. the militants threatened to kill them if they didn't tell them where the food was, and then

burned the school to the ground. this girl says they forced her and the classmates into the bush, threatening their lives. she started running, she says. finally reaching help. >> and, kate, cnn cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video but compelling glimpses of life in chibok. >> let's go to russia where national pride and military might are on full display as a major world war ii victory. president vladimir putin is celebrating victory day with a elaborate parade in moscow and heading to crimea to continue the festivities. yes, crimea, which has ukraine on high alert over concerns the celebrations could spark more violence than they're seeing in the region already. phil black is in crimea with much more. what are they expecting, phil? >> well, as you mentioned, president putin started victory day with the annual quite intimidating display of russian might in the square.

and he is now making his way here to z here to sevastopol. we are seeing here they cheered for a big military parade through the streets here, chancing, waving russian flags. and from here the party, the celebration is only supposed to get even bigger. behind me we're going to see a display by warships from the russian naval black sea fleet. president putin is expected to be here to see it. it's not confirmed because the kremlins hasn't said he is coming but if he does it will be an act of defiance from the international community who has condemned him for annexing crimea. but it is likely to be welcomed, very warmly by the crowds here in crimea and to a significant extent across russia as well by people who have always believed that crimea is an unquestionable part of the russian federation.

michaela, back to you. >> phil black in crimea, thank you. let's look at your headlines. the syrian government is retaking the city of holmes. most rebel forces and families have been evacuated marking the end of three years of resistance in syria's third largest city. homs fell to the opposition in 2011 but a campaign by government troops has the city back in the control of the assad regime. a plan to end the nsa's bulk collection of american's phone data will head to the house floor in a few weeks. the freedom act was passed unanimously following a vote by the judiciary committee. it would bar the bulk collection of phone and other personal records and require the nsa to get a judge's permission to access the data of us a spethed terrorists. energy efficincy at a california walmart today after a speak at a dnc reception in sans jose last night where he was

repeatedly interrupted by an audience member. >> i want to hear from you. i love you back. yeah, you kind of screwed up my ending, but that's okay. that's okay. and we got free speech in this country, which is great, too. >> the heckler was yelling about his freedoms as a voter. no word on that person's identity. draft day's biggest drama ended when johnny football went to the cleveland browns with the 22nd pick of the first round. brown traded up four spots to get johnny manziel. as most experts predicted, clowney was number one in the draft by the houston texans. more in this coming up in our bleacher report. right now let's get to meteorologist indra petersons looking at the forecast for the weekend. a a situation there tornadoes again spotted. severe weather this year. >> still talking about severe

weather. these are the sights we saw yesterday out towards minnesota. yesterday, six tornado reports out there including this one in southern minnesota. today that threat is not over with just yet. let's talk about who is under the gun today. talking about 27 million of you again today. indianapolis, st. louis, little rock, shreveport and san antonio. all of you are looking at that risk for severe weather. not as heavy as yesterday but still we cannot rule out the threat of even a tornado today. so what is going on? we have the warm front and the cold front. the northeast seeing light showers and the warm front are going to be looking at more heavier thunderstorms watching the cold front today. temperaturewise, they're going to be going up in the midwest and east coast. new york city going from 60s to 80s by tomorrow. it's going to feel hot, humid, and muggy out there. notice, by tomorrow the eastern half of the country getting into the showers. but t in midwest you get a break for one day. now we go into mother's day. yes, it clears out of the northeast. you stay warm but also the showers into the southeast and unfortunately back into the midwest again. the second line of storms is

going to be moving in and this one unfortunately is going to be another round of severe weather so by sunday from chicago all of the way back down through san angelo we're going to talk about another round of heavy thunderstorms on mother's day. hopefully nobody has any travel problems to go home and see mom. >> or get back from seeing mom. >> one or the other. >> that's fine. you get stuck a little bit longer. mom will like that. thanks so much. coming up next on "new day," impassioned plea from the families of flight 370 passengers. what are they demanding this morning? the partner of one of the american passengers on board joins us to lay it out. and a new twist in the fight for control of the l.a. clippers. donald sterling's wife, she insists she owns 50% of the team and she's not selling. so what does the nba do now?

the l.a. clippers return to action tonight for game three of their nba playoff series with oklahoma city thunder. but the real drama, of course, continues off the court. the league's effort to force owner donald sterling to sell

the clippers has gotten even more complicated with sterling's wife now saying she'll fight to keep her stake in the team. at the very same time another secret recording reportedly of donald sterling has emerged. more on that from cnn's stephanie elam. >> in a shocking new audio recording a man said to be clippers' owner donald sterling stands his ground. sterling says he's not a racist. in a secret recording posted by gossip website radar online. >> you think i'm a racist? you think i have anything of the world but love for everybody? you don't think that. you know i'm not a racist. >> reporter: cnn cannot independently confirm the voice is sterling. radar says the call was between sterling and a long-time friend and that their source provided an affidavit that the proof was sterling. >> how can you think i'm a racist knowing me all these years?

how can you be in this business and be a racist? do you think i tell the coach to get white players or to get the best player he can get? >> reporter: sterling's outrage and apparent response to a fallout over another recording posted on line last month. and that audio sterling is making racist comments in a conversation with v. stiviano. the harsh words apparently triggered by this instagram photo of her with nba star magic johnson. >> it breaks my heart that magic johnson, you know, a guy -- a guy that i respect so much, wouldn't stand up and say, well, let's get the facts, let's get him and talk to him. nobody tried. nobody. >> reporter: this as the nba's finance committee is deliberating on a for sale of the team. >> you can't force someone to sell property in america. well, i'm a lawyer. that's my opinion. >> reporter: shelly sterling, donald's estranged wife, wants to keep her half of the team.

>> the truth of the matter is that mrs. sterling has denounced in the strongest terms possible her husband's racist comments. and while they share business, you know, business properties, he's out of the team, has nothing to do with it, and she's the owner in charge. >> reporter: stephanie elam, cnn, los angeles. >> so will these tapes make a difference and how about this complication? who exactly owns the clippers and what the league can do about it? let's bring in lee rose and shawn xwreg gregory. gentlemen, good to have you here. what's your take on hearing sterling there? let's assume it's him. >> not surprised. he's defending himself. it was the kind of thing you would expect from him if you were interviewing him or i were interviewing him. he's saying he has good in his heart. he's grown up in an adverse environment. but again, on the other side we have what he said and hearing is believing. you have to kind of take both

and make up your opinion for him. >> move the needle for you at all or no? >> i think -- it's not that he's an evil man. but again, you say one thing and you say another thing and it sounds like he's just trying to protect himself here. >> malik? >> i think it's kind of laughable that the tape came out right now a week after he said so many heinous and disgusting comments to the contrary. i mean, yolk in the tape one iota and, you know, i have documents that i've researched and lawsuits that say what kind of man this is. and this tape isn't going to change that one way. >> and now let's get to this other issue here, which is, let's say the league decides we don't want him, okay? it doesn't matter about the tape, it doesn't matter what we learn about him, we want him out of our club. what do you think about this complication, malik, with the wife? what's your understanding of the she's the owner, does that change the equation for the league? >> i don't know fit changif it t

for the league in wanting regime change in clipper land in l.a. it makes things difficult, absolutely, but the league as well as the nba players union were prepared for this. this is the first step in a long set of moves to for the sterlings to thwart this sale. the league will and can act to force the sale of this team. it's just going to be a matter of time as to when this gets done. >> do you think it's as cut and dried as that? >> it's a country club. the bylaws say once a decision is made, a decision is final. s that t hat's not going to sto donald sterling to try and get a judge involved and try to get divorce proceedings to get other lawyers involved. as malik said, it could be a protracted process but i don't think it's going to change anything. >> the fact that it is a club and membership based is clear. what are the provisions not to take membership not as clear. i think that it's going to be

more complicated than people assume, malik. not because of the basis for it. i'm not saying what he said isn't bad. i'm saying i don't think it's as clear as we may suspect. >> may not be as clear but the rules state that the league has a right to act when the -- when it's threatened or the brand is threatened. right now with the sterlings being involved with the team, players are already on record, you've heard doc rivers -- >> tell them what doc rivers said. >> basically saying it's going to be very hard for anybody to want to be a part of that organization as long as sterlings are still involved. what that does is it still keeps the black cloud over the clippers. we've seen what's with kia and virgin airlines and state farm and all the advertisers leaving the clippers. they're going to start to leave the nba if the sterlings are allowed to stay there. once the advertisers leave, it's going to be tv revenue lost and the tv deal is in jeopardy. the global expansion the nba

what's wants to do. that's going to compel the owners to act because it starts to mess with the revenue and the revenue sharing that the players and the owners share? >> two quick points to push back. i'll start with you and end with sean. first one, the idea that this is about being thought police. you are punishing this guy for what he thinks that he believes in a private conversation that wasn't made manifest as far as we know and how he ran the team and now you're taking his property for it. is that going too far in the name of political correctness? >> i don't know about the political correctness part but i'll just go back to the rules and the bylaws that this lawyer, former lawyer, donald sterling, and his wife rochelle sterling, signed in to. they're part of a unique group that is private and it's not really, you know, taking anyone's property. it's what they're doing is threatening a multibillion dollar industry and the other 29 owners in the league, as well as the players, can't have that

happen. so that's what's ultimately going to drive this forced sale. >> it's not about the right to free speech. it's the right to consequences, they're part of a private club. this could be the consequence. sean, let me end with you on this. the idea that doc rivers isn't happy. we says i don't know if shelly being involved is good for the team and the players. i don't know. do you think this is news to them? weren't they comfortable taking this man's money before all this? >> they were. and you join the organization but that's your recourse in a way. it's like, okay, i know this guy might be a bad guy. i am going to take his money, you know? he's giving me a job opportunity. so it's kind of you play well for him and you represent yourself and, you know, he's not the it greatest guy in the world but you do it for your team and yourself and your fans. you're not playing for your owner. so, yeah, a bad guy gives you a great deal, you're going to take that great deal. i have no problem with the clippers doing that.

>> malik rose? >> really quickly. as a player, when i played in the nba from '96 to 2009 i had no idea of all the other stuff, the lawsuits and things going on with the sterlings. i heard of allegations but i didn't know all of this stuff that i know today was going on. so that's kind of -- it's not known all this stuff that was going on before the players took the sterlings' money. >> suspicion versus knowing. malik, thank you for that. sean gregory, appreciate it as well. coming up next on "new day," open letter from hundreds of the families of flight 370 passengers demanding to see all the data from flight 370. what are they hoping to accomplish? we're going to have sarah bajc whose partner was on the plane. controversy erupting at hgtv. the network just scrapped plans for a new series before the first episode even aired. what did the host say that lost them the show? they're going to be joining us to discuss.

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♪ that's my phone. hey. [ female announcer ] the x1 entertainment operating system. only from xfinity. tv and internet together like never before. it has now been more than two months since the disappearance of flight 370 as officials from malaysia, china, and australia look to lay out the new search plan. the families of missing passengers are still awaiting answers. they sent an open letter to the three countries demanding the res lease of raw data relating to the search. they want an independent review of the information collected so far. joining us of a co-signer of that letter, sarah bajc. really a pleasure to talk to you again. two months in. the families are feeling desperate. you write another letter. this one well thought out, well written, pretty straightforward and clear.

any response to this or to any of the other letters that you have penned as a committee? >> we have actually never received any response from any of our committee-based letters. we would like to receive a response, but i think perhaps the government doesn't quite know what to say to us because our requests are just too common sense. >> to that end, are you rethinking your plan of how you approach this? >> at this point we decided that if the investigative team is not forthcoming with any kind of results, that we should at least start to investigate on our own, and so we have asked for data but even in the absence of data we can do some analysis on that. so we had a number of experts out of the industry, satellite people, aviation people, oceanographers who have come forth and have begun to help us

piece things together. starting in probably about two more days you will have another set of analysis from us that will be piece by piece evaluation of that preliminary report and all of the holes that are in it. >> we'll be curious to hear what the results of that investigation is. we hope you will let us know here at cnn. i was looking at the letter. i have a copy of it in front of me. point number two, this letter urges the relevant authorities to reconsider the data, the data with new eyes. quote, without predetermination or bias as to any possible or probable outcome. i want you to explain why that is so important to the families and what it means for you. >> it almost seems that there was a predetermined location that they forced the data into. right? the place in the southern indian ocean where the flight theoretically went in is about as remote as you could get. that's just a little too coincidental that out of all the places in the world an airplane

could have been piloted that that's where it went. so it's our supposition at this point that that was an intention allocation and any data that's been brought forward so far has been intentionally modified or manipulated in order to bring that to the answer. so, you know, we think that it's just a little too coincidental that all of this data that would, in most countries, be public record. so the civilian radar data, the transcripts from all of the air traffic control towers, those should all be just public record. even the cargo manifest should have been put to the public right away but it's been hidden. even what we received in a preliminary report, that's all been modified. they've already had people say the data recordings have been modified, the cargo manifest has been modified. they're clearly hiding

something. and so if they're not willing to give it voluntarily, then we'll have to begin proceedings to get it from them through other means. >> you've been push for independent review. one of the things that we know is that you specifically wanted to have woods hole ocean graphic institute involved. they're a non-profit group. explain to us why it's important to have woods hole involved. >> woods hole is an organization who found air france 447. after all other authorities and all other researchers gave up hope and said it was not findable, woods hole conned to go forward and they took a very logical and a very structured approach, without personal gain. and we believe that that's what's necessary here. we're not asking that this raw data be released to us as citizens. we're asking that it be released to a trustworthy third party that has proof of being independent and let them run the search. >> sarah bajc, appreciate you joining us today. we hope that you have success,

that maybe there will be some response from malaysia, australia, china, after sending this open letter from the families. thank you for joining us today. coming up next on "new day," hgtv suddenly canceling one of its new shows, one of its new fall shows. did the hosts' religious belief cost them their job?orfo what's your function? ♪rn ♪ hooking up the country helping business run ♪ ♪ trains! they haul everything, safely and on time. ♪ tracks! they connect the factories built along the lines. and that means jobs, lots of people, making lots and lots of things. let's get your business rolling now, everybody sing. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ helping this big country move ahead as one ♪ ♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪ honestly, the off-season isn't i've got a lot to do. that's why i got my surface. it's great for watching game film and drawing up plays.

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welcome back to "new day." let's look at your headlines right now. veterans affairs secretary eric shinseki is facing a subpoena from a house committee and refusing to step down amid allegations that delays at va hospitals have led to at least 40 patient deaths. this as a cnn investigation uncovers new claims of wrong doing at va hospitals in san antonio. officials there accused of covering up long and potentially deadly treatment delays for patients. a tough choice for a house democrats today on whether they will join a new committee to investigate benghazi. the new probe in the new party line vote tuesday. the 2012 attack left four americans including an u.s. ambassador dead. democrats oppose new hearings but may join the committee as a check on their republican colleagues. we're going to speak with dnc committee chairman at the top of the hour. breakdown in enrollment barriers with children bought into the u.s. i'll ellie.

updating their guidelines thursday advising schools they are legally obligated to enroll every student regardless of immigration status. the education department issing looking at 14 schools for value lagss dating back to 2011. wriringling brothers circus back over after eight acrobats crashed to the ground. seven more shows are scheduled through sunday. for now, the circus will continue on without the human chandelier stunt which was being performed at the time of that accident. seven performers remain in the hospital recovering from their injuries. those are your headlines, kate. over to you. so did religion cost two hosts their own show? hgt vrk was set to premier a new series this fall called "flip it forward" featuring twin brothers david and jason benham, helping poor families get their dream homes. this week the network cancelled the show after a website called

right wing watch published inflammatory piece about the brothers. it labeled david as an anti-gay, anti-choice extremist. joining us now from charlotte to discuss what happened, david and jason benham. gentlemen, good morning. thank you for coming on. >> thank you for having us. >> thank you. >> of course. so first off, hgtv, this is what they said in response to scrapping plans for your show. it is not much. simply sayinging hgtv decided not to move forward with the benham brothers series. what was the reasoning the channel gave to you for scrapping plans for the show? >> they actually never really gave us a reason. and we understand that. >> why do you understand that? >> in recent light of all -- we understand that simply because of in light of the things that came out about my brother and, of course, they tacked it on me. i can say i'm the only one thats hasn't said anything. i'm the innocent guy here. but -- but when the fire storm came in, we had an opportunity to speak with hg and all the

folks over there. and explain to them who we were as people, that we sell to all people, of all kinds, and that we would be glad to take a homosexual couple on to our show. but i did explain to them, but the fire storm will kick up as long as david and i are hosts on your network, it's only going to get worse because there is an agenda that wants to silence the beliefs that we have. and so we -- our hearts go out to hgtv. they sunk a lot of money into this. we really feel bad for them right now. >> why do your hearts go out to them? they canceled your show? >> we feel that they got -- but we understand. they actually took an investment into us and they believed in us. hg is a very smart network. they did all the research. and they knew who we were. we actually over a years ago met with one of the executives in person and spoke about the very things that now on right wing watch and other blogs are

talking about. they saw behind our eyes that we love all people, that we have no ill intent toward anyone. they said, we want to put a show out for you and your brother. and so when the hype started it was difficult for them and maybe they would lose advertisers. i'm not sure. they didn't give us the reason. but they're in business. hey, we're in a free country. they can say, you know what, we don't want your show anymore. as a result, i feel like they got bullied. there's an agenda that's out here and that's the real issue here is there's an agenda that's out in america right now that demands silence, especially from men and women who profess jesus christ and hold to his standards. and those of us, we're not forcing that on culture. but now this agenda is forcing itself on us. you even look, even in the gay community, men like andrew sullivan and other thinkers, they're writing and saying that this latest scourge of gay

intolerance should be beat back forcefully and that's not even from us. >> let's get viewers up to date on what we're talking about. let me roll one clip of something that you talk about, david, that is what people are so angry about. listen to this. >> we don't realize that, okay, if 87% of americans are christians and yet we have abortion on demand, we have no-fault divorce, we have pornography and pro version, we have a homosexuality agenda attacking the nation, we have adultery, we have all of the things -- i mean, we even have allowed demonic ideologies to take our universities, our public school systems, while the church sits silent and just builds big churches. and we are so complacent, we are so apathetic and hypocritical in the church. that's why the bible says judgment begins in the house of god. so when we prayed at 714 we asked god and our city to forgive us for allowing these

things in the house of god. >> so you're critical of the church in talking in this conversation but you're also critical of what you were calling the homosexuality and its agenda that's attacking the nation. do you understand why people would be angry about that? >> i cannot understand why people get pretty much upset about anything in this polarized nation that we live in at this point. the thing is i never spoke anything about homosexuals as people. i spoke about the agenda. here's the issue. i fully understand why the gay community, some in the gay community can feel that that statement is against them personally when i'm speaking against the agenda because the agenda is who they are, some of them. and i know that because even if you speak about my faith it's a personal attack on me. and i can see how people understand that. and that's where jason and i as men of faith and as the church, as christians inside the church, it's up to us to be the

conscience of the nation, as martin luther king jr. said, the church must be reminded that it is neither the master nor the servant of the state, rather it is the conscience of the state. so i was simply stating -- >> to both of you, this is an issue of free speech and this is also comes down to a company's business discretion to make a business decision. i think folks are a little surprised to find you both very sympathetic to the company who was very interested in having you on their channel and then scrap plans only when what you think is because they get pressure from the outside. so are you wanting to work with hgtv again? >> we would love to work with hgtv. . we absolutely love the folks, the executives there. >> you don't feel they're wrong at all in this? >> no, we don't feel wronged at all. as david said, this isn't against -- this isn't hg versus us. >> versus the benhams. >> or us versus the gay community. this is an agenda.

we're getting to witness it right now. check it out. we believe in jesus christ and david specifically said some things. agenda says this, you believe this, i believe this, now you can't say your belief. that's not right. >> so there's bullying and there's fear tactics and they're demanding silence from those that profess jesus and want to live to his standards. so what's happening is hgtv probably was not prepared for that battle. but unfortunately it came to their doorsteps. and jason and i, we have never changed who we are. when jesus stepped into our hearts at the age of 12 and we began applying his principles into our lives we've never changed anything. so we're ready for this. we're not afraid of it. >> i have to interrupt him otherwise he will continue on. we say that our faith may have cost us the show but you know what, our faith got us the show because that's who we are. and the only regret that we have with this is that america is not going to get to see an awesome

show. some of the editors were putting it together and said, your show is blockbuster. >> it's a shame they won't get to see my beautiful wife. >> but -- >> hg did. >> and hg liked me and, therefore, took him along just pulled him in tow and now america doesn't get to see that. we're sad about that. >> then all i see is smiles on your faces. we will see what hgtv says, as you said, they still have not given you any concrete reason why they scrapped plans for the show and we will wait and see what happens with you guys in the future. jason, david, thanks very much. chris? >> thanks for having us. >> of course. sorry. chris? dealing with the delay. >> all right. next up on "new day," the first pick was no surprise, but the waiting was agony for this man, young man, johnny football. nearly dropped out of the first round of the draft. what happened to manziel? who finally grabbed the heisman winning quarterback? the bleacher report is next. you want a loan to build a factory in america?

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the nfl draft is a big, big thing and months of build up, see who goes first, whose everybody's team takes. let's bring in brian mcfayden here to tell us all the draft day drama. let's start with the main headline. let's not forget our humanity, respect of boy andy scholes is

on baby watch. we wish him and his wife the best. >> he is on baby watch. i got to phone call late last night thinking i could stay up and watch the draft but that's not going to happen so i'm getting a t lot of news just now. if you're a browns fan, you probably still celebrating this morning. johnny football is coming to cleveland. but it took a while to get there. johnny manziel heard his name called after three hours of waiting backstage. cameras were on him the entire time. the clock kept ticking. never once did you see him show signs of disappointment. he was passed on by 21 teams before the browns traded up to get the pick from the eagles. he was on the screen so much that espn reportedly mentioned manziel's name more times than the top five picks combined. finally at 10:43 eastern he gets the hug that he's been waiting for from the commish. took the defensive end with the very first choice. scouts say he's a one in a generation player but there was

some criticism upon his work ethic last season and questions about whether the texans would trade the number one slot. one of the big questions remaining in the draft is which team will take michael sam who could become the nfl's first openly gay football player. the all american defensive end for missouri came out in february. but when and where will he go? sam underperformed at the nfl combine and scouts say he may not be selected until the last picks are made on saturday. and if he is not drafted at all, he will more than likely be signed as a free agent. guys? >> all right. back to the headline, andy schole is having a baby. mcfayden had to come in and get the information. make sure that andy knows we're thinking of him. >> you can come back, too. we don't need him to be on baby watch. >> i would love to hang out with you guys again. >> i care about andy. once again, my jets failed to impress at the draft. i can focus fully on the baby.

we gave you that draft information. a lot of big stories to start your new day today. cnn out front again on a shocking story of wrong doing at va hospitals. wait until you hear the latest. and then, will democrats boycott the latest benghazi investigation? can they do that? the head of the d nrk c is here. we'll test her opinions and amazing video is a quick thinking boston cop plucks a suicidal man off the tracks. it's all here. let's get after it. problems at the va are systemic. >> major developments in the health care scandal that's rocking the department of veterans affairs. >> this investigation would not be necessary had the obama administration not misled the congress about what happened in benghazi. boko haram's campaign of terror, shocking the world into action. >> our interagency team is hitting the ground in nigeria now. i committed to grabbing him

and i committed myself. >> good morning. welcome back to "new day." it's friday. may 9th, 7:00 in the east. up first, explosive new allegations involving a va hospital in texas uncovered by tonight cnn. the facility in san antonio accuse of cooking the books to cover up deadly treatment delays. veterans affairs secretary eric shinseki ordering all va clinics to undergo face to face audits. this bhwhile he's pegged on capitol hill to answer for why dozens of veterans allegedly died waiting weeks and months for treatment. let's bring in pentagon correspondent barbara starr. good morning, barbara. >> good morning, chris. 23 million veterans in this country and the va now ordering an audit at all of the clinics who serve american veterans. were there secret waiting lists? cnn revealed much of the information. our own drew griffin, now an inspector general investigation at the va.

the house veterans affairs committee issuing the subpoena for eric shinseki, the embattled va secretary. they want to hear from him directly. they want to see any e-mails about these so-called secret waiting lists where veterans made to wait more than the two-week period, was it all covered up? did veterans die because of this? this is really becoming a xwroeing issue across washington. shinseki will testify before the senate without a subpoena next week. the president standing behind his secretary of veterans affairs so far, but make no mistake, there have been growing calls for shinseki to resign. we will see next week what he has to say in front of congress. chris, kate? >> all right, barbara, thank you very much. so house democrats, they're in the spotlight today, saying they may boycott a new investigation in benghazi. republican controlled house voted to establish a special committee on the attack populated by mostly republicans. the attacks left four americans

dead, you will remember, including a u.s. ambassador. many democrats are push for a boycott. why? they're saying it's just a partisan witch hunt. joining us is david wasserman schultz and the chairwoman of the democratic national committee. before we get to this boycott, shinseki, you as the head of the dnc, do you believe that shinseki should be forced to step down? >> i think the most important thing here is to make sure that we can get adequate strong funding and that we make sure that the va has an aggressive effort that would make sure that we can get these waiting lists and the backlog reduced and get our veterans the services that they need. and we need to make sure that we can get to the bottom of how we can get that accomplished very, very quickly and republicans, quite frankly, need to make sure that they step up and provide more funding to the va so we can do that. >> congresswoman, the man in charge is eric shinseki. serves at the pleasure of the

president. the accountability has been lackluster. this stuff has been going on forever. it's why he was brought in. it's getting worse, not better. isn't it time for there to be leadership in this situation? >> of course. of course there's time for there to be leadership in is the time. and i think no one other than general shinseki would agree with that more. and his expressions of deep concern over the problems that have arisen over the backlog have been -- have been publicly expressed appropriately. we need to work with him to get to the bottom of how we can quickly deal with the backlog. we need to do it in a bipartisan way an not add yet another dimension to the finger pointing and blame game. we've got hundreds of thousands of veterans now who are coming into the va pipeline and we need to get them taken care of. >> congresswoman, i couldn't agree with you more about the sniping but i tell you i think this is a good place for finger pointing and you can't say that general shinseki has been forthcoming.

he's been ducking questions. he's needed to be subpoenaed. is it a fair assumption if he were a republican in a republican administration you would not be so generous of his behavior up to date. >> the fair assumption is that as member of congress who has a very significant 36,000 strong veteran population in my congressional district, my number one priority is to make sure they get the care that they need and that we get these problems and this backlog ironed out. yes, we should hold people accountable when there have been problems that go directly to that person's responsibility. we need to get those questions answered p. to top priority for all of us should be working to make sure we reduce the backlog and get the veterans taken care of in need. that's president obama's priority and my priority and politically and in terms of honoring the public service of these veterans we need to make sure we take care of them. >> you can't put politics on top of that by keeping somebody in the position who is not getting to job done.

let's move on to the benghazi committee. let's just get right to it. congresswoman, you can't boycott the committee. why even suggest it? you continue boycott the committee. >> well, what the thing that has been lost in this farce that the republicans have stirred up yet again is that we have four americans who have died. their families have been through a tragedy. and their families deserve more than the political ploy that this is. and then to be treated for their loved ones to be treated like a political football. we have to make sure that we focus on the priorities of this country. creating jobs, getting the economy turned around, and the republicans are now turning to benghazi because the affordable care act repeal obsession that they've had has lost its luster. it's not quite as getting their base quite as ginned up as it was. so they need something that they can get their folks latched on to -- >> so go fight the good fight. let's say everything you're saying is true. go fight the good fight. go ask about yellow cake and the

weapons of mass destruction and where the anger was and outrage from these same people of so outraged now about benghazi? >> be clear. i have not called for a boycott. what i said is that the leader, if there is not equal representation of democrats and republicans, and that this is not a fair process, then not participating in a sham select committee after 13 investigations, 50 briefings, 25,000 pages of documents, for what is essentially a political ploy is something that should be considered. it is also perfectly legitimate for us to participate and make sure that we can get our questions answered and help make sure that, to the best of ourable, even though this process is clearly not going to be fair and the republicans have decided exactly where they are on it, that we make sure that we can at least try to balance the outcome. that's a reasonable position as well. i just said that not participating and sanctioning a political ploy and what is essentially a turnout operation for their gotv plan to get their

republican tea party base ginned up is something reasonably considered as well. >> but you know that these committees are always imbalanced. >> no, they're not. no, they're not. >> it's very common. very common. >> when they -- when it is essential that there is fairness, like with the budget -- like with the budget hearings, when we are dealing with the debt ceiling crisis, that committee was balanced. >> by accommodation. aaccommodation. beginning of the process.e - republicans and democrats -- >> it isn't unusual. i'm not saying it shouldn't be balanced. i'm saying it's not proof that it's not fair. >> what i'm saying is in a case like this, if the republicans are truly interested in quote, unquote, getting to bottom of what happened, they aren't, but if they were truly interested, then in those times when the have something as deeply serious as making sure that we prevent this from ever happening again and ensure that we get to the bottom of it so we can find the

perpetrators and bring them to justice, then an evenly split committee is reasonable and an appropriate thing to do. we've done it before when we are trying to make sure we put politics aside. but this is 100% pure politics. they don't have the aca that's ginning up their base anymore. they tried to latch on to bundy and that blew up in their face and now they have to go back to benghazi, even by their own leader's admission, speaker boehner and the chairman of the armed services committee's admission, they've exhausted multiple witnesses, multiple times. 25,000 pages of documents. we've had a commission that has met, the that the secretary of state put together led by admiral mullen, 29d recommendations, all of which are in the process of being implemented. we've got to work together to focus on the nation's problems. the republicans are doing everything they can to keep something in the news and they are really abusing the tragedies

that these families have gone through and dragging these four tragic deaths back into the spotlight just to be able to try to get their folks to turn out a little bit more on election day. >> i'm just saying, congresswoman, if you're not there, then there's no one to argue those points. >> we're going -- chris, we're going to discuss that this morning. and the democratic caucus will give the leader our advice and our opinion and we'll make a decision. both positions are reasonable. >> look forward to what comes out of the meeting. thank you for joining us as always, congresswoman. happy mother's day to you. >> thank you very much. >> kate? american help is finally arriving to help the search for the hundreds abducted schoolgirls in nigeria. new intelligence suggests the girls may have been separated already by the al qaeda affiliated group who took them. emotional devastating accounts from girls believed to have escaped the mass kidnapping.

cnn's vladimir duthiers is there with more. >> we've not only been able to obtain video of girls who describe the terrifying ordeal as they escape the clutches of boko haram when they stormed their campus in the middle of the night while they were sleeping. several of them managed to get away. with the new information that's coming out, kate, people that we have spoken to on the ground in chibok say this is their worst fears. perhaps these girls may have been split up. the parents are saying to us they've been talking about that since the beginning. that this was something that they were worried about. they had seen convoys filled with young girls when militants on those convoys on a road leading out of nigeria into neighboring cameroon. and now clearly the fact that the united states is saying that these girls may have been broken up has made their worst fears come to pass, kate. >> vlad, stay on top of it for now to eastern ukraine. fresh fighting has broken out this morning between pro russia

separatists and government forces. there are reports of fatalities unfortunately and just in to cnn, russian president vladimir putin arrived in crimea, the region annexed by russia from ukraine. he's there celebrating a pivotal world war ii victory. phil black is in crimea with more on this situation. phil? >> kate, good morning. vladimir putin started to day in moscow, the big annual military parade in red square next to the kremlin there. they're marking victory day. big display of military might. russian state media has confirmed that president putin as expected has traveled here to crimea. territory that was annexed by russia so recently and which much of the international community does not recognize as russian. he has come here to mark perhaps this most significant of national holidays for russian people, that marks russia's role in defeating nazi germany during

world war ii. he clearly believes that this is russian territory as does the huge crowds we are seeing here that have been cheer for a smaller military parade, waving russian flags. the celebration here is supposed to get even bigger with a big display by warships from the russian black sea naval fleet. vladimir putin is expected to show himself here shortly. he hasn't done so yet. but there's been some more cheering from the crowd just in the last few minutes as news of putin's arrival clearly is beginning to spread. his appearance here will be very much interpreted as a triumphant statement and defiance that he and russia has received since taking over this territory which was, until recently, part of ukraine. michaela? >> phil black in crimea, thank you for that. let's look at some other headlines right now. the clippers and thunder play game three of their playoff sist

series tonight in los angeles as donald sterling's wife says she will fight the effort by the nba to force her out of an owner of the team. the disgraced l.a. clippers owner denies the charges that got him banned for life from the nba. >> you think i'm a racist? do you think i have everything in the world but love for everybody? you don't think that. you know i'm not a racist. >> that tape was released by radar online. cnn has not confirmed that recording, amazing story out of massachusetts caught on camera. a man tries to end his life by jumping on to the subway tracks only to be pulled back by a very quick-thinking officer. >> you wanted to go in the pit. >> reporter: this heart stopping moment caught on camera. a man teetering on the edge of a subway platform ready to jump. >> he struggled with me a little bit further to get himself into the pit. >> reporter: luckily transit detective shawn conway was there and quick to act, grabbing the

man just in the nick of time and pulling him to safety. >> i just know i didn't want to go into the pit. i committed to grabbing him and i just committed myself to not going with him in the pit. >> reporter: unidentified man was just feet from the rail when detective conway came to the rescue. despite his actions, detective conway says he's no hero. >> i was just lucky to be there at the right place at the right time for the gentleman. >> talk about being at the right place at the right time we're going to speak to him about that very thing. he's going to join us later on n "new day." >> oh, my gosh. >> right place, right time. >> gives you chills. >> can't wait to have him. coming up on "new day," boko haram, a name you now know well. most here had no idea who they were before this horrible kidnapping of hundreds of girls. we're going to take you inside the group to show you why the international community is gathering to take it on. and the family of four killed in a former tennis star's home that goes up in flames. unbelievable. why investigators are now taking

a closer look at the father of that family. welcome back to"

american military experts are on their way to help nigeria in the search of the abducted schoolgirls. we're racing to learn more.

the u.s. is, about the group including who they are and how nigeria and international partners including the united states may be able to bring the girls home safely. joining us now to discuss foreign editor for "the daily beast," thanks for coming in. let's talk about this. first, let's show viewers the area we are discussing. all right? obviously we're talking about an area in nigeria. if we can advance the animation i want to make sure we see the town where's these attacks have taken place. first and foremost, when you look at how this is all laid out and you know this area better than many people do, how are they hiding these girls? why is it so hard to find them? >> well, there are a lot of reasons. first of all because the area. the whole region there inigeria government control. it's a no-man's-land where boko haram can move around very, very freely. there is a big forest there, part of it is a national forest

but a lot of for ested land. >> reporter: caves and mountains in that region between chibok where the girls were kidnapped and cameroon. you have slithers of borders of countries coming together. so jurisdictionally who is in charge? cameroon, niger, or chad, or for that matter obviously ney year gentleman. >> is that why, some would wonder why they believe the girls have been separated and why there are suggestions some girls have been moved to other countries. >> almost certainly some of the girls have been moved into cameroon. >> why almost certainly? >> because it's nearby, because it gets them away from the authority of any nigerian military or police who want to come looking for them, because it complicates the situation. that's the way guerrillas operate. complicate situation, break up into small groups, hide, and then coalesce and attack when that is appropriate. >> so if they are separated, what does that do to the search

effort? everyone will wonder what can the u.s. do in coming? >> the u.s. can gather intelligence. it can try to find these people. it can use satellite imagery. it can use drones, overhead imagery, depending to some extent how much ney year gentleman wants to cooperate which is something of an issue. >> still a question. >> something of an issue. the u.s. isn't going to put any boots on the ground there, it's not going to put people there. there is a chance that the french will move into those border regions. there's been some talk about that. the french have deployed a lot of troops in africa recently, in the central african republic, their main goal is to fight terrorist groups, islamist terrorist groups. they have an interest in getting involved, too. but they're not going to find 220 something girls. the girlses are not together. they are not going to be rescued in a dramatic operation all at once. this is going to be a long protracted process, not only

looking for them but very possibly trying to negotiate their release and, although people are not going to say it, possibly to ransom them. >> and then bringing the people who did this to justice is then another question. >> well, bringing them to justice is going to be a question of hunting them down and killing them if the nigerian government is on board for that. if it wants to get involved with that. in the past, it's hoped to negotiate some kind of solution, some kind of end to this conflict. >> now, you have an interesting take. you actually believe the public campaign really trying to draw the world's attention to the kidnappings of he's girls, the #bringourgi #bringourgirlback. you think that actually might be hurting their chances of being recovered somehow? >> twome elements. the nigerian government was trying to sweep this under the rug. >> for three weeks, and years. >> and immediately, immediately after these girls were kidnapped the nigerian government, military, put out world that all but eight of them had been

rescued. it did that to drop the number down so it didn't make headlines. the problem now though is that the head of boko haram has realized that he has -- these girls are a valuable commodity. the whole world is paying attention. he goes on use tube, he says i've got them. i'm going to sell them into slavery. this is a man, a group, who ransomed people before. before they kidnaped a european family in cameroon and ransomed them for more than $3 million. these girls, who he talks about selling as wives as $12, these are now valuable commodities to him. >> what is the alternative though, ignore it? i'm not saying to ignore it. i think that the campaign, which "the daily beast" is a part of is a good campaign for a lot of reasons. partly to make sure it doesn't happen again, partly to make sure that people do pay attention, that hundreds of girls can't be kidnapped and forgotten. that's good. but we have to recognize that there is a flip side to this and that in terms of actually

freeing those individual girls, those 220 something girls we believe to be still held cappive, the campaign is not going to be able to do very much. >> the more we learn about it the more we learn about nigeria and the area that these girls are, very large forest, the tougher it seems it's going to end well. >> it's going or very tough and very prolonged, i'm afraid. coming up on "new day," incredible video. a man trying to jump to his death saved at the last minute by a quick-thinking cop. how did it all happen? we're going to speak to the police officer coming up. and on inside politics, who is your favorite first lady? a new poll ranks your opinion of presidential spouses. the results, guess what, might surprise you. did you get my e-mail? [ man ] i did.

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welcome back. let's look at your headlines. the house veterans affairs committee voting to subpoena eric shinseki as this as cnn uncover news accusations against a va hospital in san antonio for allegedly cooking the books to cover up long and potentially deadly treatment delays for patients. appointment delays at va hospitals are blamed for dozens of deaths. u.s. personnel arriving in ney ye nigeria today. american team already in nigeria has started advising on the search already. early intelligence points to the girls being broken into groups. some of them even taken across the border into cameroon. breaking news in the ukrainian crisis. gunfire and black smoke in the streets as fighting erupts.

russian president vladimir putin celebrates victory day in crimea. the region annexed by russia. it marks a key world war ii victory, the celebrations have ukrainian officials on edge. we'll keep an eye on that situation there in ukraine and crimea here on cnn. >> a lot of politic on the watch as well so let's get inside them on "new day" with mr. john king. . >> happy friday, ladies and gentlemen. >> to you as well. >> hello. >> tgif. there is a lot of politics. let's get straight to it. maggie haberman with me this morning. the democrats today, ladies, face a big decision, whether to take part of a new select committee on benghazi. the democrats say this has been overinvestigated and the house investigations in particular have been partisan and the big controversy at the moment is, and i think this is ridiculous and in a word, stupid, even before this new committee was officially launched republicans are raising money, trying to raise money in the election

year. house speaker john boehner asked this yesterday, is it right to raise money off benghazi and he was asked pointedly off the death of four americans. listen. >> four americans died in benghazi. should the nrcc fund raise off of your efforts of a select committee? >> our focus is on getting the answers to those families who lost their loved ones, period. >> should the nrcc do fund-raising off it right now? >> our focus is getting the truth for these four families and for the american people. >> but the campaign committee which you are very involved in-. why is that happen? >> our focus is forgetting the truth for these american people and four families. >> that's the speaker of the house. that was not a robot. maggie, i'm sorry, i get a little crazy about this one. he's the leader. leaders are supposed to lead. he could have at least answered the question as to whether or not it's appropriate, right? >> he could. his answer probably seems more politically astute for him,

whether it's an actual answer to the question is a different issue. it's always dangerous when you fund raise off of a tragedy as you point out, this is a very delicate thing. i'm not sure that leadership was necessarily thrilled that a happened but they don't see a way to walk it back. remember, their base, the party's low dollar base is very interested in this. it does help them fund raise. not saying it makes it okay but it's happening. >> inevitable in the world we live in, molly. maybe the democrats would do the same thing if they were in power. democrats in the past have raised money off things as they try to say they invest gate them. i'm a big fan, have too much versus too little. everything that was one of the lessons of weapons of mass destruction and the iraq war. no matter who is president send which party controls congress, can they say this select committee, does it huge open for democrats to say it's not credible. >> absolutely. this is absolutely the story that democrats would like us to be talking about. in instead of talking about the facts, instead of talking about an investigation that seems

serious and that sun earthing new information, we're talking about how political it is. it's very difficult for republicans because, you know, they do want this to look like a legitimate investigation but their base loves this issue. their base really eats it up. there is a lot of advantage for them to be gained from their base from it. so -- and for democrats it's a decision as well. you talk about them deciding whether to participate. it's a really tough decision for them. are they going to ledge mize this versus are they going to give republicans unopposed forum where there's no moderating voice. >> i think that's the decision in the end, are you there to say, wait a minute, or do you just let them have it. here's a question i want to raise. six months to the election. are we seeing some evidence that maybe some democrats think the obama brand is not quite as toxic as they had previously thought? it's a question. we knew the president was in arkansas earlier this week. it was for disaster relief. you see the tornado damage there. the president over his shoulder, mark pryor, democratic senator. hague again is now embracing the

medicaid expansion, key part of obamacare. michelle obama is off to louisiana. she's going to deliver a commencement address that also appears separately with mary landrieu, another vulnerable democratic senator. a few isolated incidences or are democrats starting to rethink, you know what, he's with us anyway, we might as well stand with him. >> dipping a toe in the water. they are isolated incidents and very specific instances. so for arkansas there was damage. you have a senator who is showing up looking like he's doing his job. the commencement address is very specific thing and michelle obama's numbers are pretty good. her numbers are better than her husband's. but i think it is too soon to say whether democrats are wholesale turning around but we are in this moment where things seem to be edging back a bit for democrats. they certainly think so. internally their numbers tell them they are doing better. >> they test this, i assume. president pops up in arkansas. disaster, presidential moment, not a campaign moment. i'm sure they look at the data and see what happens, right?

>> we've seen vulnerable democrats in previous cycles try this strategy of running with the president instead of away from him. harry reid in 2010 decided he needed to get out his base more than he needed to get out himself. mark warner in 2012 in virginia decided that the best strategy for him was to diffuse the republican's attack. all republicans really had to come pain on was that guy -- not mark warner, tim kaine, that guy is basically the same as obama. he said, you're right, i like the guy. now what do you have? i think we will see more democrats try that strategy. >> footnote to that, the nbc/"wall street journal" poll, who is the most admired first lady, were bra bush on top tied with hillary clinton. not sure there's any great plit da political meaning. the president is out in california. he will have an event near

stanford university today to push his alternative energy, climate change agenda. whatever your views on the issues. the white house is using this as a pr tactic. look. not new video but that's installing solar panels on top of the white house. i love these time-lapse videos to show you how projects play out. now let's move on to big money. i want your colleague politico can reporting this morning. the koch brothers are going to put $125 million from those two gentleman right there into the campaign this year. they've already spent 30 something million on tv ads but they want to apparently the effort here is to learn the lessons where the democrats have beat them in the past. do some data, turnout. how significant is that chunk of money when you're talking about these key senate races in the balance? >> very significant. fantastic story but my colleague. this money could really make a difference. when your floating money into tv ads at a certain point it starts

to balance out. not completely. data is something the koch has been looking at for a while, since 2012. they felt like they got defeated. this is across the party. republicans all believe this is a problem. they are trying to create their own system. if they can do it and funnel the money correctly, it could make a difference. >> in a 50/50 race, the tv ads. >> although the tv piece of this is interesting. the messaging they're talking about trying to soften the image, this kind of hilarious, especially for democrats, line that like we realize that americans really like the idea of helping the poor and the weak. so we've got to have that be our message coming from the koch brothers there are democrats spitting out their coffee when they read that. >> tim geithner's new book is about to come out called "stress test" talks about his time at the treasury department but a moment the associated press got

a copy of the book. he suggests, maggie, hey, how about hillary clinton, she's doing a great job at foggy bottom, why don't you make her the new james baker? >> that doesn't seem to fit in with her plan or anyone's plans. i think at the end of the day despite problems at the state department during her tenure i think hillary clinton will be happier that she was where she was. you are more firmly tethered to the economy. >> people saying sign my dollar with your signature on it? >> undercurrent with the geithner story. he claims that he wanted to be liberated from his cabinet post but they just wouldn't let him. >> thank you, maggie and molly, for coming in. seth miers has been our favorite this week. listen to him here talking about recent security lapses at the white house. >> for the second time in three days the white house has gone into lockdown after somebody threw an object over the fence. and finally today, president

obama took away joe biden's frisbee. >> great ultimate frisbee player, joe biden. >> he is a sporty man but i don't think that is his problem. >> i saw him as a hackie sacker. >> hackie second quarter, when was the last time you said that word? >> scrappy kid from scranton, he can do it all. >> that's right. scrappy. thanks, john. >> have a good weekend, my friend. coming up on "new day," a family of four is found dead when a former tennis pro's home goes up in flames but it wasn't the fire that killed them. we're going to take you unside a very troubling investigation. amazing video. a last-second potentially life-saving grab. a quick thinking detective all pulls a man to safety just as he was about to jump on the subway tracks. that detective is going to join us live. it starts with little things. tiny changes in the brain.

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welcome back to "new day." disturbing new developments at that fire at a florida mansion owned by former ten sthnis star james blake. all four victims at the scene were shot. the father of the family was renting the home. cnn's alina is in miami with more. what do we know? >> chris, authorities say they found small commercial type fireworks scattered throughout the home and it now looks like they're taking a closer look at what the father did in the days leading up to this fire. >> oh, my god.

so bad. i was walking my dog and the house just exploded. >> reporter: it was this frantic call for help early wednesday morning that alerted police that something was horribly wrong. >> okay. do you see flames and smoke? >> the house is engulfed in flame, ma'am. >> reporter: inside this florida mansion that is owned by tennis great james blake authorities found four people dead. two adults in a room and two teens in two separate rooms, all had been shot. authorities say darren and kimberly campbell lived in the house with their two children. >> colin, my grandson, was a pretty good ballplayer, and his dad was very active in his support. >> son, was really good friends with him. he hasn't done anything wrong ever. and the daughter she was beautiful. the parents were great people. it's just so bad that this happened. >> reporter: the campbells had been renting the 5800 square foot house from blake for the past two years. the exclusive tampa area gated

community is known for its mansions and celebrity residents including new york yankees greats derek jeter and marry an no rev a. fireworks were found throughout the home and in this surveillance video obtained by cnn, you can see a man believed to be darren campbell inside a phantom fireworks store in tampa on sunday buying about $600 worth of fireworks. he walks out of the store with one cart and an employee seems to help him out with a second. >> we can also confirm that he purchased several gas cans at a local home improvement store that same day. a firearm was recovered in the residence that was registered to mr. campbell. >> reporter: the hillsboro county sheriff's office would not elaborate on what they believe may have happened or on a possible motive. but they are also saying they are not search for a suspect at this time. chris and kate. >> p alina, thank you very much.

coming up next on "new day," incredible surveillance video to show you. a detective saves a man just as he was about to jump on the subway tracks. the detective who made that life-saving grab joins us live to describe the incredible rescue. first, anthony bourdain takes a ride on the grounds of a russian imperial palace and comes up with royal and revolutionary ideas. take a look. >> what would i be doing on my outing if i were a czar, looking for cool ox to impress? >> hunting, no. enjoying life. >> all right. picking up some good speed here. >> oh, okay. >> some have suggested that russia is, after all this time, coming full circle. a tiny, tiny minority in possession of nearly unlimited power and wealth. idea of running up the steps and disi'm boughing royals. i can easily see myself doing

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welcome back. i want to show you video that's like tloi make your heart sob. this surveillance footage shows a man attempting to jump uf a subway platform. the man who saved him is a boston transit officer. he's here with us this morning.

here is detective sean conway with mbta police. first of all, what a fright to see that. sean, thanks so much for joining us to day. you were in the area chasing down a suspect in a crime when this all happened. how did you know there was trouble? >> i was on a different platform when i heard commotion on a different platform. i thought some other officers were dealing with somebody, so i made my way to assist them. when i saw he was alone, i made my way to that platform just to deal with the disturbance. >> the disturbance was a man that was distraught. we don't know what his frame of mind was. we understand he might have been drinking out of a bottle at the same time. i know this was a danger for you, too, detective. you could have gone in that pit. how did you make a decision to react? >> when i approached him, i

identified myself as a police officer. he began to drink quickly from an alcohol bottle, and he was looking towards the pit. he started to make his way towards the pit. i just reached out and grabbed him. >> thank goodness you grabbed him by the wrist. if you had missed or slipped or if he had pulled you in, it could have ended very differently. >> when i made the decision to grab him, i just committed to pulling as hard as i could and also committed to making sure neither of us went into the pit. >> you managed to do that. you pushed him to the side, got him on the ground, held him there. did either of you say anything at that point? >> no. i was just trying to get him away from the pit and get him in handcuffs and get him some hell sglp you guys are trained for a whole lot. you've got to get those instincts up. are you trained for anything quite like this? >> i don't think so, ma'am.

it's just a right place at the right time and a little bit of luck. >> i also know that law enforcement guys generally don't like to be in the spotlight. you don't like to have the attention. i know you're pretty uncomfortable talking about it. but you know you are being haled a hero. >> i'm much more comfortable on the platform than here, that's for sure. >> that's where we want you, making sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again. do we know anything more about this guy, if he is okay, what happened to him after he was taken away from there? >> i inquired yesterday at the hospital. last i heard he was still there under observation. >> detective sean conway, my man. you have just changed a life because you were in the right place at the right time, your quick thinking and quick actions certainly saved a life. we can't thank you enough for doing that and for joining us here on "new day." thank you, sir. >> thank you, ma'am.

>> keep up the great work. >> all right. thank you. >> kate, chris, i still can't believe the timing of that. >> the more heroic they are, the more quiet and understated you are. you tried, mik. he just wants to do his job. up next on "new day," republicans launching another investigation looking into the attacks that killed four americans in benghazi, libya. will democrats join or boycott it? we'll go live to capitol hill. cnn out front again on a story we brought you first. fresh accusations of wrongdoing at the va, did they cook their books? could that be true? we'll bring you the latest straight ahead. to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more.

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this investigation would not be necessary had the obama administration come clean. >> decision time as republicans force another investigation into the attack in benghazi, democrats will meet in just one hour to decide whether to boycott it or take the situation head on. we're going live to capitol hill. outrage at the va. a new twist in a cnn

investigation now putting even tougher questions to the secretary of veterans affairs. did a va hospital cook the books as veterans risked their lives waiting for care. twin brothers defend their religious beliefs after losing their jobs at hgtv before they even go on air. was it justified or political correctness gone too far? >> your "new day" continues right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning and welcome once again to "new day." it's friday, may 9, 8:00 in the east. in less than an hour, house democrats may be facing a tough debate themselves. should they join republicans into a probe in the attacks in benghazi or boycott? the house voted thursday largely along party lines to form a special committee to investigate what happened in benghazi that led to the deaths of four americans. cnn's dana bash is live on

capitol hill. why is this meeting so important? >> it's so important because they are truly indecided about how they're going to go just on the substance of this. democrats insist there's no there there. four committees in the house have already done extensive investigations into what happened, what went wrong, what caused the death of four americans in benghazi and whether or not there was a coverup and there's no need for this select committee and it is all political. given that backdrop of how democrats feel, the decision is whether or not to go in and be part of the process or to boycott it and not be a part of it to make it clear that it is just a political circus. those are the decisions, very tough political decisions they'll make in the next hour or two. >> so then what are you hearing from your sources about what's happening behind the scenes? i'm sure negotiations are going on, trying to get more equity on the panel if they want to be on the panel. what are you hearing? >> that's really the key, kate.

we've heard a lot about the ratio, the split is going to be seven republicans, five democrats. that's not so much of an issue for democrats if they do participate. it is whether or not they have access to the witnesses, real access to the witnesses and whether or not democrats have a say in the subpoenas that go out to witnesses. they expect it to be all about hillary clinton. they expect in the republican perspective to be about sort of painting what happened at the state department under her -- when she was secretary of state as something that went wrong and it was a failure of leadership. so that's what democrats are focusing on and that's why they want to be very much a part of the process. i'm told from multiple democratic sources, if it was two days ago when this happened, the chances are that they would boycott. now there are discussions with the republican leadership behind the scenes about giving a nod in some way to democrats to make sure they have access. that is making many of those who were opposed to participating think twice and say, you know

what? maybe we do need to be in the room. >> i know what we are forced to cover, a little bit of political theater. you do call it out when it happens. what is this conversation amongst democrats of minimal participation? it seems like they're either trying to split hairs or some fight on the playground to be quite honest. >> it does seem that way. it is unfortunate when you're talking about how big and important this is. what we're talking about is something that has been floated by congresswoman rosa del lore rah from connecticut is a very close ally of democratic leader nancy pelosi. she's pushing a third option, instead of fully to empanel five democrats, to put one democrat in the room, to be there to beat back anything that is blatantly political and not fully endorse the panel. not clear if that's going to have much headway amongst democrats. if you look at it, maybe it's sort of being a little bit

pregnant, something you can relate to. either you're in or you're out. it is part of the discussion i'm told, to maybe do this sort of halfway, minimal participation idea. >> a very perfect example to bring up right there, dana. thank you so much. dana bash, great to see you. we have stunning new allegations of coverups and fatal delays that should have us taking a hard, hard look at how we're treating our veterans. clerks at a va hospital in san antonio are accused of cooking the books to hide dangerously long treatment delays, the kind of delays that are blamed for at least 40 patient deaths at va facilities. now the veterans affairs secretary aaron shinseki is facing a house subpoena after the cnn investigation discovered secret wait lists that may be to blame for these 40 deaths. let's bring in cnn correspondent drew griffin. you're joining us from san antonio. that's where the story took you. what have you found there?

>> reporter: it's a brand new investigation now opened by the va office of inspector general. it basically started yesterday with the outing of a clerk, chris. this is a guy who actually schedules medical appointments for vets coming in. he says a vet will come into san antonio, needs to see a doctor right away. because there are no appointment times, they will schedule him out three, four months in advance, but when he goes to write in the book, into the va's keeping track list of when the appointments are made, he says he has to put in that that vet was seen within two weeks, within the allotted national time frame that the va is trying to reach. he says it's nothing more than cooking the books. take a listen. >> so it could be three months and it looks like 14 days. >> it could be three months and look like no days. it looked like they scheduled the appointment. >> fudging the books, that's my -- >> i would call it that.

you can call it that. the va doesn't call it that. they call it zeroing out. >> the va calls it zeroing out. that policy now supposedly is part of this big national review, chris. brian turner is filed for whistle-blower status. he's still at the va in san antonio. he met with investigators yesterday. this is yet another investigation under way now looking at delayed care, denied care to our veterans who as you say have been dieing waiting for care. >> zeroing out. is that in any way an industry practice that's accepted anywhere? if it isn't, who is on top of this clerk? the clerk isn't the one setting the policy. who is responsible? >> reporter: he would not name his superiors. he said he shared that with the inspectors from the office of

inspector generals yesterday. he's a very near vows guy, trying not to get in trouble. he feels empowers by others who have come forward and outed this. he said it was his supervisors who came in and told him to do this. when he rode it up the chain, when he internally tried to take care of this, he told us don't e-mail anybody, don't say anything, just shut up and do your job. >> the most troubling thing for us, drew, as you know all too well, the more you dig, the more you'll find. it's leading you in all these different directions. you have to keep going. it's the only way this will come out. hopefully your investigation will fuel the questions that are asked of the secretary by this house committee. thank you for doing the reporting, my friend. we'll be back to you soon. the clock is ticking in the search for the abducted girls in nigeria as help is beginning to arrive. u.s. military experts will arrive today. new emotional accounts coming

from girls who are believed to have escaped the mass kidnapping. cnn's isha sesay has more. what are we hearing about the help on the way? >> reporter: hi there, kate. as you mentioned, time is of the essence. we're hearing a uk team, a british hostage rescue team has arrived in abuja, made of counterterrorism officials, military add sizers to advise the nigerian government. as you mentioned, they will be joining the u.s. team that is arriving as well, although there's also a number of american personnel already here that have been here for some time. we're seeing a ramping up of the international effort. the hope is that will be the turning point in this search and rescue mission. as we get more details as to how that horrific night played out for these girls. as you mentioned, some 200-plus girls missing now for over three weeks. we're hearing from some of the

girls who tell us they escaped. kate, it is just terrifying as they describe these armed militants coming into this school, rounding them up, setting fire to the buildings all around them, emptying the school store of all the food items they had and loading them into these vehicles and taking them out and into surrounding areas. the belief is they were taken into the nearby forest and that's where they were kept for some time. the big concern now is that so much time has passed that as you, yourself, have mentioned, they have broken these girls up into smaller teams. that's going to make it much harder to find them. >> thank you very 34u67 for following that up. all eyes are on that situation. so today is victory day. that's the day russia celebrates defeating the nazis in world war ii. but where it's being celebrated is raising concerns. russian president vladimir putin is in crimea which he thinks is part of russia.

most of the world does not agree. meanwhile in other parts of ukraine, fresh gunfire and black smoke as they continue to battle back russian separatists. phil black is in crimea for us. what's the situation? >> reporter: chris, vladimir putin has arrived. all day we've been wondering will he, won't he, the rumor is he would. a short time ago he pulled into the bay at sevastopol and there's a huge crowd lining the shore here and they've rupted into applause. what we're seeing here in sevastopol is a huge celebration of patriotism and really specifically russian patriotism. we've seen a parade through the city streets of russian military vehicles. what is about to happen now is a big naval and aviation display. vladimir putin has traveled from moscow after marking victory day in red square next to the kremlin with the classic military parade there, he's now here in crimea to do it here as

well. this territory that was annexed by russia, he's doing it in the face of enormous international condemnation. this appearance here by the russian president, one of defiance to the international community. it will be very popular with russians. it appears to be very popular here with this big crowd in sevastopol as well. michaela. >> phil, let me stay with you for a second here. any indication of how the presence of putin in crimea is resonating throughout the rest of the country? is there more violence and response? what are you hearing on the ground? >> reporter: well, it's an interesting comparison. here we have the celebration of russian patriotism with vladimir putin here. north here in ukraine in the southeast corner of ukraine, the region currently in crisis, there are on going clashes today between pro-russian and pro-ukrainian and ukrainian military forces.

there's a bigger question here. vladimir putin's arrival here is not just an act of defiance but also has the potential as a statement, symbol, gesture to create a further destabilizing influence into southeastern ukraine, that region around donetsk where crew yan kran forces are desperately trying to reassert their authority on entire regions that have fallen under pro-russian control. >> phil, to be certain, there's no mistaking what the message is for vladimir putin to show up in crimea, clearly putting a stamp on the territory. thank you for being here for us. let's get a look at more headlines right now. president obama is set to talk energy efficiency at a california walmart today, this comes after a speech at a dnc session last night where he was repeatedly interrupted by an audience member. >> i twoont hear from you. i love you back. you kind of screwed up my

ending, but that's okay. [ applause ] that's okay. and we've got free speech in this country. >> he was yelling about his freedoms as a voter. the ringling brothers circus is back open after the accident that send acrobatics to the ground. for now the circus goes on without the act, the human chandelier, the stunt performed at the time of the act and several performers remain in the hospital. a study reveals that genes that make bacteria resistant to antibiotics are everywhere. the findings raising concern that the prevalence of resistant genes could contribute to a major health concern. the world health organization has said the abundance of resistant genes threatens the

achievement of modern medicine. those are your headlines. up next on "new day," in the search for the hundreds of kidnapped school girls, is the public campaign, some are suggesting, hurting the chances these girls will be found? we'll discuss. think the nba forcing the sale of the l.a. clippers is a done deal? think again. the wife of donald sterling says half the team belongs to her and it's not for sale. we have the inside on what may happen next. ups is a global company, but most of our employees

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welcome back to "new day." members of the u.s. military arriving in nigeria to help find almost 300 girls abducted by boka haram. the girls' location isn't the only thing in question. also at issue, why did it take so long, some would say, to recognize the al qaeda affiliated boka haram as a terror group. that's criticism coming at the government. joining me is fran townsend, cnn national security analyst, former security adviser for the bush administration, also on the external advisory boards on the homeland security board and the cia. fran, good morning. >> good morning, kate. >> let's talk about where things are right now. they say they believe the girls have been split up, maybe even that some of them have been moved out of the country. why is that the working theory? >> well, it would be easier -- if you're the terrorist organization and you have a group that large, it's easier to locate them -- the larger the group, the easier to locate, the

larger the footprint, the larger the force to keep these girls together. so it makes sense, if you disperse them, one, they're more difficult to find and two, it's easier with the necessary security to hold them. that is the operating theory because it makes the most tactical sense of our enemies, boka haram. >> with that in mind, what is the most important thing as u.s. experts, u.s. military get on the ground, what's the most important thing they need to establish? >> there's no question that what you're looking to provide them is tactical intelligence related to location and the sort of health and well-being of the girls. what intelligence can you help them gather and how can you use that intelligence to be able to actually locate and put a plan together to rescue these girls. >> fran, a bit of a complication in here is the nigerian government needs to be open to receiving this assistance.

we know they want them to be on the ground. talk to me about that struggle. >> look, each -- as we look around the world, for example, with malaysia and the missing plane, governments can be slow to respond. there can be missteps in the beginning. then they're anxious to get outside expertise. the problem is, once you invite people in to help you you also reveal perhaps what mistakes you've made and these governments understandably worry about leaks. while they want the help, what they don't want to do is lose control of the information related to the investigation and the rescue effort because they have their own domestic political issues they're trying to manage. >> what do you think the chances are that these girls will be able to be located, so many of them, if they've all been split up? the leader of the group knows that the world's attention is on this crisis right now. what do you think? >> look, you want to be positive about this, and the more sort of international help you get in, the odds go up. but the longer these girls are

held, you really worry about the conditions they're being held, under what sort of abuse they're having to deal with. as you say, because they're split up and don't have the support of fewer of themselves in the group, you do worry about the long-term prospects for being able to get these girls back healthy and alive. >> a lot has been made in recent days about u.s. terror designation of boka haram. this was made in november of 2013. a lot of republicans criticizing the administration saying why wasn't this done sooner? we know nigeria has been dealing with boka haram since 2009. would a terror designation pre november 2013 have changed this situation do you believe? >> you know, kate, this is an issue that's dogged this administration going back to al shabaab, the somali al qaeda related terror group, that they also waited and hadn't designated. i don't understand it. there's no downside from the u.s. government's perspective to designating them. in fact, there are tools that

then become available to them to prohibit travel, to prosecute cases of material support to those who may profound money or training or weapons. there are tools at their disposal that come with the designation, there's no downside. look, this isn't -- boka haram is not the first one, al shabaab was also criticized. i don't understand why they're still dealing with this. >> when you talk about no downside, some of the concerns we've heard is the administration was hearing from both nigeria, even the former u.s. ambassador to nigeria, there was concern the designation would serve as a recruiting tool, make the u.s. more of a target of this terror group, in a sense it would hurt more than help. is that a possibility? >> i just don't buy that. co

the taking of all these school girls isn't the first time they had this sort of action. they took a group of boys and did the same thing. this is a very violent group. they have very violent aims. they share the ideology of al qaeda. the notion that a designation was going to legitimize them in some way i really think is nonsense. there really is no legitimate excuse in my mind for not having acted against boka haram sooner, just as there was no excuse for not having acted against al shabaab more quickly. >> hindsight is 20/20, where were the missteps if missteps were made? the fact of the matter is and where the focus can be now, that discussion can happen later. finding these girls is first and foremost what needs to be the focus. the chances seem more grim as the days progress. frances, thank you so much. good to see you. shelly sterling says she owns 50% of the l.a. clippers and intends to keep it that way. can she prevent the nba from

making a sale? the answer may be yes. we'll tell you why. plus, give us the data. the flight 370 families are begging for those searching the data to let someone else take a crack at it. will they agree?

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the nba play-off series. there's still plenty of drama surrounding the clippers off the court as the nba continues to try to force donald sterling out. his wife shelly sterling says she'll fight to keep her stake as co-owner. just in to cnn, more secret recorders believed to be donald sterling have surfaced. more now from stephanie elam. >> reporter: in a shocking recording, a man said to be donald sterling stands his ground. sterling says he's not a racist. in a secret recording posted by radaronline. >> you think i'm a racist? you think anything of the world but love for everybody? you don't think that. you know i'm not a racist. >> reporter: cnn cannot independently confirm that the voice is sterling. radar says the call was between sterling and a long-time friend and that their source provided an affidavit as proof that the voice is sterling.

>> i mean, how could you think i'm a racist knowing me all these years? how can you be in this business and be a racist? do you think i tell the coach to get white players or to get the best player he can get? >> reporter: sterling's outrage and apparent response to the fallout of another recording posted online last month. in that audio sterling is making racist comments in a conversation with v. stiviano, apparently triggered by this instagram photo of her with nba star magic johnson. >> it breaks my heart that magic johnson, a guy that i respect so much, wouldn't stand up and say, well, let's get the facts, let's get him and talk to him. nobody tried. >> reporter: this as the nba's finance committee is deliberating on a forced sale of the team. >> you can't force someone to sell property in america.

i'm a lawyer. that's my opinion. >> reporter: shelly sterling, donald's estranged wife wants to keep her half of the team. >> the truth of the matter is that mrs. sterling has denounced in the strongest terms possible her husband's racist comments. while they share business properties, he's out of the team, has nothing to do with it and she's the owner in charge. >> reporter: stephanie elam, cnn, los angeles. >> is the court of public opinion going to be an easier sell for the nba than the court of law in this? let's dig in deeper. doug eldridge, managing partner at dle and robin evidence carian. let's start with new information here. there's a new recording of donald sterling. let's put to the side the intrigue in this fiasco of how these tapes just keep coming out which is a neglected part of it. let's play the new tape from donald sterling where he's explaining himself about the

call. go ahead. >> i know i'm wrong, what i said was wrong. but i never thought a private conversation would go anywhere, out to the public. >> okay. rosh bin, let's start with you. does that make it better or worse? >> well, that's a good question, chris. the cynic in me says that at some point donald sterling said, okay, now press the record button. this is the kind of thing that feels to me a little pr-ish. he wants this out there. he doesn't want to face the press. he doesn't want to be in an interview situation that he can't control. he has a conversation with somebody saying he's not a racist. i don't think it makes it better. >> let's say it's all true. if he says this was a private conversation, i wasn't out there declaring my beliefs or anything like that, i was in a heated fight with this woman in my

life, the ugly part of me came out, somewhat the mel gibson defense. does that make it okay? >> no, it doesn't make it okay. the horse has left the barn. the nba has made its decision, banned for life, fined $2.5 million. the team is no longer going to be in his control, and now the question is who gets to control the team, who gets to own the team. >> so doug, try to put the saddle back on the horse and bring it back on the barn. do you think the nba has such an easy path of getting rid of this owner? >> i don't think this is clear-cut at all. you led off by saying the court of public opinion and the court of law. the court of public opinion has spoken and the nba has acted. there's a difference between a suspension, a ban and a forced sale. those are three separate forms of discipline. the potential forced sale is a completely different animal altogether. when we take a step back and look at the simplicity or complexity of that process while the court of public opinion is

rather straightforward because by definition it's opinion-based, as we gradually make that transition to the court of law, we'll be seeing the underlying complexities of interpreting the nba constitution and the presumed legal opposition, mr. sterling's defense as this moves forward. >> why isn't it as simple as donald and/or donald sterling saying you can't kick us out, this is our private property? why isn't it as similar as the nba saying yes, we can, you signed an agreement, it's our membership. you take the first part, robin. if the nba says you signed a membership agreement, we don't want you as members anymore, you're out. why isn't it as simple as that? >> anybody in this country has recourse to the courts. donald sterling, it looks like because he does tend to have a litigious nature. if he doesn't really want to go, he can file a lawsuit, ask for an injunction, do whatever he wants. how the courts respond is entirely unclear. if you look at the flab

constitution, it's very clear in that universe that the nba commissioner and three-quarters of the team owners really can call the shots. >> the question is on what basis, right, doug? it's vague. it contemplates you not running your business well, ironically this started out being about race and the owners saying this guy is hurting my ability to make revenue in the league soil' get rid of them. >> i'll disagree with one point robin made. that's the fact that it's clear they have the ability to exercise this des plin. it's clear in primarily section 13-d, a 75% majority of the owners could move to vote to force a sale. the question is the standard by which that must be measured. when we talk about vague, we're talking about open language in the nba constitution, a document to which all owners are a signatory. the standard in section 13-d which could possibly be the hinge point here, the standard

is whether or not mr. sterling breached its obligation to the league and its owners to comport himself in a certain manner and that breach resulted in damage to the brand. the reason this keeps driving back to race, whether it sounds right or wrong, you can almost monetize the impact of racial statements. here is what i mean. when we take a look at the increasing global landscape of the nba, the simplest way to put it is it's becoming decreasingly caucasian and english speaking. that's a great thing. that's exactly what commissioner stern was trying to do, to take it to the south american and asian markets. it was a wild success. nba games are telecast in over 46 countries and 216 languages. of the 41 million clicks that nba.com gets every day, the vast majority come from outside the united states. the reason that's relevant is twofold. number one, to say the new demographic of the nba fan is increasingly more culturally defensive vears, that's number

one. number two, if the future of a revenue stream of a league expected to be nearly $5.5 billion this season is more culturally diverse, those racially tone statements will have an impact. that's why this is going to be a slippery slope for the league to force this sale. >> i definitely agree it's going to be harder. robin ab carian, thanks for weighing in. doug, you're laying out why it could be damaging to the league. they're going to have to prove that it is already damaging to the league. thanks to both of you. more on this that's for sure. hopefully mr. sterling will speak for himself at some point. coming up next on "new day," a new plea from the families of the passengers on flight 370, demanding to see all the data on the missing plane. what are they hoping to accomplish? let's put some music on. woman: welcome to learning spanish in the car. passenger: you've got to be kidding me. driver: this is good. woman: vamanos. driver & passenger: vamanos. woman: gracias. driver & passenger: gracias.

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good to have you back was on "new day." it's been more than two months since the disappearance of flight 370. officials are now working to lay out a new search plan. the families, meanwhile, of the missing passengers, imagine this. they're still waiting for answers. they've sent an open letter demanding the release of raw data related to the search. they want an independent review of all the information collected. joining us miles o'brien science correspondent for pbs. i know you've had a chance, as we have here, miles, to look over this letter. initial thoughts, is there something you think could have been added or that was left out? >> well, initial thought, it's a shame these families have to

even write this letter. it's just tragic. they've been tortured long enough. it's high time to release all the data. what they're looking for here specifically is stuff that has nothing to do with any possible criminal investigation. it's simply where is the aircraft, the nature of the pings, the mathematics behind the inmar sat handshakes has nothing to do with however the plane got to wherever it may be. so it is reasonable and as a matter of fact it is unconscionable for the families to hold this back at this point. it is time to throw out the rules and lay the cards on the table for these people. >> the fact that the requests are really reasonable. it's not like they're asking for things that are completely off the -- they want information, data that they can look at and analyze and have independent people look at. >> absolutely. the convention in these investigations is to hold back information until they figure out the answers. well, we're two months in, and

they clearly are stymied. these people deserve, are entitled to this information in my opinion. throw the rules out, put the cards on the table, inmar sat, release all your data. release it now. let's hear those pings. let's try to figure out about the chinese pings which were kind of discounted. maybe there was something to them. can we hear from the searchers who might have had these underwater pingers on marine mammals in that area. can we figure out why it's 33 kilohertz instead of 37 kilohertz for the supposed pings for the black boxes? all these things need fresh air and fresh eyes. i say open it up to the world and outsource this thing. clearly they are stymied. >> that's the thing and we talked about it at great length here. you feel very strongly about this notion of peer review. in any scientific and mathematical breakthrough, always subjected to peer review.

why not? is there any rational reason, miles, in your estimation? >> it doesn't seem rational to me at all. inmar sat says, well, we peer reviewed it. they don't open up the process. they say they had industry experts look at their information. there are a lot of people who say there's quite a few holes in the data. we haven't released the full information on their methodology and all their data. that's where we start because so much hinges on these inmar sat handshakes, the communication between the aircraft and that satellite and creating those circles on the earth where the plane might be. let's get that refined because it's quite possible they're in the right ocean. >> one of the passenger's family members saying they're not getting any response to even having those letters sent. then the notice of the hotel

headquarters, the family headquarters being shut down, the insurance policies being paid off. do you get a sense that there is a movement to sort of tam pen down all this, push it away as if it's not happening? >> remember, the malaysian prime minister, i forget how long it was after the investigation, who just pronounced the plane in the ocean and everybody is deceased, nothing to see here. >> right, early on. >> there's no amount of money in the world that will silence these families. they want to know where their loved ones are. i try to imagine if my son or daughter had been in this aircraft, how i would feel. it would behoove the investigators to start thinking that way. a little empathy would be a great thing. >> a great deal of empathy would be an even better thing. miles o'brien, always a pleasure to have you. thank you so much. kate? it is may, rather which means most everyone is gearing up for summer. one group in harlem is focusing

on ice, ice skating. it's too costly for many kids. but for one woman, she made it her mission to have them succeed on and off the ice. that's why sharon cohen is a cnn hero. >> i love the crispy feeling of the air. the sound of my skate crunching on the ice. >> skating relieved me from everything. i just want to fly. >> i heard there were some girls who wanted to figure skate in harlem. growing up i was a competitive figure skater. i knew skating wasn't a diverse sport. there wasn't access for kids in low-income communities. they were so eager to get started. i began teaching them. it was really inspiring to me. now we serve over 200 girls a year. look at those spins! you did it. they gain discipline, perseverance. they fall down and get back up and learn they can do that in

anything. it's a building block. skating is the hook, but education comes first. to be sure they get on the irks they have to get their homework done. they get tutoring a minimum of three afternoons a week. >> harlem ice. >> we want girls who believe and know they can do anything they put their hearts and minds to. >> it's not all about skating. sharon is teaching us to be the best we can be. >> that is a beautiful thing, beautiful thing. let's take a quick break here on "new day." when we come back, a provocative question. is society punishing people too much for what they say? two brothers who wanted to build houses for those who need them now won't get to do it at least on tv. the reason why is raising eyebrows. huh, 15 minutes could save you 15% or more

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keep your conservative religious ideas to yourself. that's what hgtv said when it killed a new series called "flip it forward." the twins helping poor families get their dream home. this week hgtv tweeted they're not moving forward with the show after the website right wing watch posted an article labeling david, one of the brothers as a, quote, anti-gay, anti-choice extremist. was this fair? was this right? to discuss, branding and social media consultant peter schectman

and news day analyst ellis hanigan. hgtv, they can do a series with anyone they want. >> do we need to silence everyone with conservative views? they can't have home improvement shows. it isn't like this guys came out against building code inspections or in favor of purple wallpaper. this is a home repair show. lighten up a little bit. >> is this the left gone awry. >> this is hgtv scared because they saw what happened with paula deen and what happened with duck dynasty. at the end of the day, they have the right to say whatever they want, both the host and hgtv but no one guarantees anyone a show or advertisers. they were afraid, hgtv has a lot of advertisers that cater to the gay and lesbian community, all sorts of people on both coasts, as it were. to put these people on, it would be a black cloud hanging over their head. >> do they have a legal right?

yes. should we be cheering it? no. we ought to be big enough people where we can see people we don't agree with. what are we scared of? >> they're scared of losing money. >> how do you know chik-fil-a won't come in and buy all the spots? >> i don't happen to embrace their social views. i'm willing to watch somebody helping this nice family. >> they handled it as hashing the sorry, not sorry. they didn't -- they'll get a pickup somewhere. right now hgtv is sitting there looking at advertisers and saying we can't afford to lose big news. think what happened with ellen and sears. it's a risky slope. >> hold on a second. you can't make both sides of the point. you're saying they're right to do it because they're afraid they're going to lose money. but then you say it's a slippery

slope. >> it's a bad slope. first of all, these guys are not paula deene. those were horrible slurs, they were mean. these are guys that have views that maybe we don't agree with. they don't have to be shut out. >> there are a lot of people who will be very offended by what they say is true in the name of religion. a lot of religious people would argue they're being extreme in their own right. is this about debate? you get to have the debate and the ideas, we don't chill your ability. >> you don't. but you also don't guarantee anyone a show. at the end of the day, this has to come down to, we're building homes. >> we do not want ideological hit squads going around -- >> ideological hit squads. >> digging through old google searches and seeing if somebody said something bad. >> at the end of the day, it's two different things. if they were coming out against purple wallpaper, it would make

for a better show. it's completely unrelate sgld what happened to i will die for the right to fight for -- >> now you have david sterling, they'll take his team, his property because they don't like what he says and his thinks. >> it comes down to money. if the advertisers are going to pull their sponsorship, it comes down to money. hgtv is afraid they will lose sponsors and lose millions in revenue. at the end of the day, that's more important. that's what keeps thing going. >> shack man is convincing. i'm going to turn on you, ellis. >> i didn't think he was so convincing. >> something about the way he was looking at me. here is the question. if you want to say things, we do not judge the marketplace of ideas, right? that's the beautiful understanding of the first amendment that we have here, you can't just say anything you want to say it's first amendment. if it's offensive and doesn't

meet with who we are as a people, you don't get the same protection as everyone else. we're going to put restrictions on you, it's hateful. it's not just your religion. your religion is hate, if you're saying all these people are going to hell. you don't get the same protection as someone who says i like certain things more than others. you don't get the same protection. >> first of all, this is not a first amendment piece. there is no government action. what we don't want is a culture that is so jumpy, so nervous, so worried, peter, about what everybody might think that all we can have is one orthodox expression -- >> we want to embrace diversity. >> it's not always what everyone thinks. it's what the advertisers think that pay the bills. >> part of that diversity has to be listening to people who say things we don't agree with. >> you're a social architect. you want only the views you

like. >> tell me why -- is hgtv there to make nice houses or there to make money? >> they're there to make money and afraid of people like you. >> afraid advertisers will walk away. if it was the complete opposite, if it was a show that degraded shat marriage, they would lose advertisers as well. this is about money. if you are going to come out and say something that is against a big section of the population, love it or hate it, you're going to not have that right to give that talk, to get that show, to do whatever. >> quick point, i'm getting yelled at. >> when we succeed, we drive all that out of the landscape, we'll be worse off. life is more interesting this way. who would we argue with. >> we're watching in action. peter and ellis, we're watching who we want to be as a people. this is a culture war, not a legal war. coming up next on "new day," a heartwarming story that will start your new day off just right. the lengths one officer goes to help a young man in need.

it's "the good stuff," and it's coming up.

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it's "the good stuff," and it's all right. we've got to good stuff for you in just a moment.

i noticed indra is sitting over there by herself. we can't let herself be there. so over to the couch. it's now time for "the good stuff." sumter, south carolina, police officer guy, a 13-year-old kid arguing with his mom, wants to leave home. nothing unusual there. take a listen. >> i said, you have it good, you have a roof over your head. i told him i would try to help him out. >> what does that mean?

help out, protect and serve. the officer notices that cameron simmons didn't have any bed or bedroom furniture. >> my heart went out for him. i thought with the little things he needed, i could give him to make him a happier kid. >> that's the serve part. a few weeks later, the officer showed up with a truck load of stuff. >> bed, tv, desk, chair, a wii game system that somebody donated because of the story i told them. i didn't do this for publicity or to get people to notice me. i did it because i could and it was the right thing to do. i think people should do things like this. >> any chance to play the wii is worth taking it. that's why the officer really did it. no, look. he did something we want to see people do all the time, take an opportunity to just help somebody if you can. he did what he could do. >> the good old days, help your neighbors. >> and let that kid be seen, too. >> a mean game of tennis on the

wii. >> always doubles. police, protect and serve. anyway, hope you have a great weekend. to all the mothers out there, you deserve it. every day, not just this weekend. let's get you to the "newsroom" with carol costello. to all the mothers in your life, carol, we hug them. >> absolutely. happy mother's day everyone, but especially my mom. have a great day. have a great day. "newsroom" starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. i'm carol costello. just when you thought it could not get any stranger, it does. donald sterling's racist talk came from a jealous man who wanted to have sex with v. stiviano. new audio released by radaronline e plains it all, or rather donald sterling